We just had our first taste of fall here in the midwest. For the last couple days the heat has abated a bit and given way to some rain and cooler temperatures. There's a few leaves turning and my thoughts have turned to pumpkin and apple baked goods.
And it's the perfect time for a good book! Just picture a good book with your favorite fall drink. Sounds wonderful to me!
Just in case you need any help finding great Christian fiction to read this fall, think of me as your personal librarian, offering up a great list of the newest releases in whatever genre is your favorite!
So, here is my 2013 Guide to Fall Reading: Fiction Edition! Not that I'm reading all of these this summer--but I'd sure like to! These are the newest releases and there should be something for everyone!
I've broken them down by category. Click on the book title below the image collage to read more about each book.
I have to start with suspense, because that's my favorite!
Here's some new historical fiction releases from August that you might want to check out!
The Miner's Lady by Tracie Peterson
Part of a Series? Yes, Land of Shining Waters Book 3
Publisher: Bethany House
Description:
When Chantel Panetta's younger sister claims to be in love with Orlando
Vittorio, Chantel knows there is no hope. The Panettas and Vittorios
have been sworn enemies for decades, and young love cannot heal the deep
wounds between the two iron-mining families. Yet, unable to resist
Isabella's pleas, Chantel agrees to help her sister spend time with
Orlando...only to have a run-in with Dante, Orlando's brother. The
older, more handsome one.
Chantel can't deny the attraction that
flares when she's with Dante. But when a tragedy occurs at the mine, is
there any hope that the hatred that has simmered between these two
families might be resolved? Or will Chantel's hope for love be buried
amidst decades of misunderstanding?
It is the spring of 1943. With a wedding and a cross-country move, Millie’s world is about to change forever.
If only her past could change with it.
Soon
after the break of day, Bump will become Millie’s husband. And then, if
all goes as planned, they will leave the rain-soaked fields of
Mississippi and head for the wilds of the Colorado Rockies. As Millie
tries to forget a dark secret, she hasn’t yet realized how drastically
those past experiences will impact the coming days.
For most
of Millie’s life, being free felt about as unlikely as the mountains
moving. But she’s about to discover that sometimes in life, we are given
second chances, and that the only thing bigger than her past … is her
future.
Love's Awakening by Laura Frantz
Part of a Series? Yes, Book 2 of Ballantyne Legacy Series
Publisher: Revell
Description:
Ellie Ballantyne, youngest child of Silas and Eden, has left finishing
school. But back at her family home in Pittsburgh, Ellie finds that her
parents are away on a long trip and her siblings don't seem to want her
to stay. When she opens a day school for young ladies, she begins
tutoring the incorrigible daughter of the enemy Turlock clan. The
Turlocks are slaveholders and whiskey magnates, envious of the powerful
Ballantynes and suspicious of their abolitionist leanings. As Ellie
becomes increasingly tangled with the Turlocks, she finds herself
falling in love with an impossible future--and Jack Turlock, a young man
striving to free himself from his family's violent legacy. How can she
betray her family and side with the enemy? And will Jack ever allow her
into his world?
Masterful storyteller Laura Frantz continues to
unfold the stirring saga of the Ballantyne family in this majestic tale
of love, loyalty, and the makings of a legacy. With rich descriptions of
the people who settled and civilized a wild landscape, Frantz weaves a
tapestry of characters and places that stick with the reader long after
they turn the last page.
Christmas at Harmony Hill by Ann Gabhart
Part of a Series? no
Publisher: Revell
Description:
It is 1864 and the nation is still torn apart by civil war when Heather
Worth discovers she is with child. She has been working as a laundress
with her husband's army unit, but when the army gets orders to march
south to Tennessee, Gideon insists Heather go home to have their child
under safer conditions. Heather agrees, but returns home to another kind
of devastation--deaths in the family and a father who refuses to
forgive her for marrying a Yankee. With nowhere else to turn, Heather
seeks refuge at the Shaker village of Harmony Hill, where her great aunt
Sophrena lives. There, after many peaceful years at Harmony Hill,
Sophrena is having doubts about her Shaker path. Both women are in need
of love and forgiveness--whether given or received. With Christmas
coming, can the miracle of new life fill their hearts with unexpected
joy?
Rebellious Heart by Jody Hedlund
Part of a Series? no
Publisher: Bethany House
Description:
Jody Hedlund Brings History to Life Like Few Others
In 1763
Massachusetts, Susanna Smith has grown up with everything she's ever
wanted, except one thing: an education. Because she's a female, higher
learning has been closed to her, but her quick mind and quicker tongue
never back down from a challenge. She's determined to put her status to
good use, reaching out to the poor and deprived. And she knows when she
marries well, she will be able to continue her work with the less
fortunate.
Ben Ross grew up a farmer's son and has nothing to
his name but his Harvard education. A poor country lawyer, he doesn't
see how he'll be able to fulfill his promise to make his father proud of
him. When family friends introduce him to the Smith family, he's drawn
to quick-witted Susanna but knows her family expects her to marry well.
When Susanna's decision to help an innocent woman no matter the cost
crosses with Ben's growing disillusionment with their British rulers,
the two find themselves bound together in what quickly becomes a very
dangerous fight for justice.
The Invention of Sarah Cummings by Olivia Newport
Part of a Series? Yes, book 3 of The Avenue of Dreams Series
Publisher: Revell
Description:
Sarah Cummings has one goal in life--to break into Chicago's high
society. Desperate to stop serving dinner and to start eating at society
tables, Sarah alters cast-off gowns from the wealthy Banning women to
create lustrous, flattering dresses of her own. On a whim at a chance
meeting, she presents herself as Serena Cuthbert, weaving a fictitious
past to go with her fictitious name. But as she gets closer to Simon
Tewell, the director of St. Andrew's Orphanage, Sarah finds that she
must choose between the life she has and the life she dreams of. Will
she sacrifice love to continue her pretense? Or can Simon show her that
sometimes you don't have to pretend for dreams to come true?
Olivia
Newport brings us back to Prairie Avenue to explore the place where
class, social expectations, and romance come together. Readers will
enjoy following the intrepid Sarah as she searches for true love in a
world of illusions.
The Christy Award is a "Christian fiction award to recognize
novelists and novels of excellence in several genres of Christian
fiction." The nominees for this year were announced recently and the
winners will be announced June 24. Every year I make it my goal to read
all the books that are nominated for the Christy Award. I also give
them away!
I will giveaway the books by category while I am reading the books nominated in that category.
To enter to win any/all of these books, please do the following:
1. Post a comment indicating which book/books you would like to be entered for in the featured category.
2. Enter by the date indicated. For this category, please enter by JUNE 26, winners announced on June 27.
3. Respond within 10 days should you receive an email indicating you won a particular book.
4. Come back TOMORROW for the next category giveaway!
Today's category is: "First Novel" and the books are:
Book 1: Into the Free by Julie Cantrell
Description:
Just a girl. The only one strong enough to break the cycle.
In
Depression-era Mississippi, Millie Reynolds longs to escape the madness
that marks her world. With an abusive father and a "nothing mama," she
struggles to find a place where she really belongs.
For answers,
Millie turns to the Gypsies who caravan through town each spring. The
travelers lead Millie to a key that unlocks generations of shocking
family secrets. When tragedy strikes, the mysterious contents of the box
give Millie the tools she needs to break her family's longstanding
cycle of madness and abuse.
Through it all, Millie experiences
the thrill of first love while fighting to trust the God she believes
has abandoned her. With the power of forgiveness, can Millie finally
make her way into the free?
Saturated in Southern ambiance and written in the vein of other Southern literary bestsellers like The Help by Kathryn Stockett and Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin, Julie Cantrell has created in Into the Free—now a New York Times Best Seller—a story that will sweep you away long after the novel ends.
Book 2: Tangled Ashes by Michele Phoenix
Description:
When Marshall Becker arrives in Lamorlaye, France, to begin the massive
renovation of a Renaissance-era castle, he unearths a dark World War II
history few in the village remember. The project that was meant to
provide an escape for Becker instead becomes a gripping glimpse into the
human drama that unfolded during the Nazi occupation and seems to live
on in midnight disturbances and bizarre acts of vandalism.
Book 3: Wedded to War by Jocelyn Green
Description:
Tending to the army's sick and wounded meant leading a life her
mother does not understand and giving up a handsome and approved suitor.
Yet Charlotte chooses a life of service over privilege, just as her
childhood friend had done when he became a military doctor. She soon
discovers that she's combatting more than just the rebellion by becoming
a nurse. Will the two men who love her simply stand by and watch as she
fights her own battles? Or will their desire for her wage war on her
desire to serve God?
Wedded to War is a work of fiction,
but the story is inspired by the true life of Civil War nurse Georgeanna
Woolsey. Woolsey's letters and journals, written over 150 years ago,
offer a thorough look of what pioneering nurses endured. This is the
first in the series "Heroines Behind the Lines: Civil War," a collection
of novels that highlights the crucial contributions made by women
during times of war.
I just love the Christy Awards! I love hearing which books are nominated! I love reading all the nominated books! And, I love giving them away! (Which I will again for this year soon!)
The nominees for 2013 were just announced and I am so excited to tell you about them! Now you know what I will be reading coming up.
The Christy Advisory Board is pleased to announce nominees in nine
categories for the 2013 Christy Awards honoring Christian fiction.
Contemporary Romance Nominees
The Breath of Dawn by Kristen Heitzmann (Bethany House Publishers, a division of Baker Publishing Group)
Lethal Legacy by Irene Hannon (Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group)
It is my mission with this blog to introduce others to Christian fiction and all the things that reading a story can teach us about faith, hope, peace, love, and our Lord. Afterall, Jesus Himself often used stories to give powerful lessons. I also will be including some of my craft projects here as well.
